David Blundin, 32

DataSage

The ballooning volume of information available through the Web and other media presents a problem: How do we make sense of all that data? Businesses are particularly hungry for tools to sift massive amounts of information to yield nuggets of insight about their customers’ behaviors and needs. Such "data mining," which involves a blend of marketing techniques, innovative software, graphic design and other disciplines, is just now finding the strategies that work. It may be one of the most important economic realms of the next century-and David Blundin, founder and CEO of DataSage, is likely to be a key innovator.

Venture capitalist Duncan McCallum of One Liberty Ventures calls Blundin "the most visionary person I have ever met" in the field of decision-support software. "Dave has established an impressive track record of leading and commercializing groundbreaking innovations in data mining, particularly its application to customer intelligence," McCallum says. Blundin, he adds, has "the ability to spot important trends and an ability to create novel solutions to problems." As retailing becomes e-tailing, this is someone to keep an electronic eye on.